I, for one, feel incredibly inadequate for lacking the stuff that you'd get on a CS course which I think actually matters - stuff like algos, operating systems architecture, etc.
I think lack of confidence is a huge factor and it's one that's plagued me for a long time, though I don't want to project my issues with it onto all self-taught programmers.
<oversharing>
I had a somewhat unique situation when it came to choosing my degree course - having been brought up in a new-age spiritual belief system, I was pressured into asking a woman in Indonesia what I ought to pursue (yeah seriously :-S), and ended up doing civil engineering despite having no interest in it. I had grown up coding from age 9, and that along with maths were my passions.
I had the added pleasure of having a vast family crisis occur during the degree which caused me to fail a year and end up with, though a good grade (a british 2:1), nowhere near the performance I could have achieved had the shit not been going on.
So I've got a degree in the wrong subject, and have had to work from scratch into some sort of development career, and now I'm in an internal job working on CRUD apps.
</oversharing>
The really frustrating thing is that many (though thankfully not all) potential good employers seem convinced that you must have a computer science degree or otherwise you're not worth considering (and yeah, I'm looking at you google and microsoft), I know I can learn the things I'm missing and contribute to oss, etc. to become a viable coder at a good place, but if you are basically turned away at the door because you lack the right degree it just doesn't matter.
Obviously for me personally, my degree was plagued with problems which weren't my fault, another way in which I can potentially be deselected from the hiring pool.
To end on a positive note - I am working on fixing these things by filling in the gaps and contributing to OSS - a good solution for people who feel similarly inadequate I feel.
I think lack of confidence is a huge factor and it's one that's plagued me for a long time, though I don't want to project my issues with it onto all self-taught programmers.
<oversharing>
I had a somewhat unique situation when it came to choosing my degree course - having been brought up in a new-age spiritual belief system, I was pressured into asking a woman in Indonesia what I ought to pursue (yeah seriously :-S), and ended up doing civil engineering despite having no interest in it. I had grown up coding from age 9, and that along with maths were my passions.
I had the added pleasure of having a vast family crisis occur during the degree which caused me to fail a year and end up with, though a good grade (a british 2:1), nowhere near the performance I could have achieved had the shit not been going on.
So I've got a degree in the wrong subject, and have had to work from scratch into some sort of development career, and now I'm in an internal job working on CRUD apps.
</oversharing>
The really frustrating thing is that many (though thankfully not all) potential good employers seem convinced that you must have a computer science degree or otherwise you're not worth considering (and yeah, I'm looking at you google and microsoft), I know I can learn the things I'm missing and contribute to oss, etc. to become a viable coder at a good place, but if you are basically turned away at the door because you lack the right degree it just doesn't matter.
Obviously for me personally, my degree was plagued with problems which weren't my fault, another way in which I can potentially be deselected from the hiring pool.
To end on a positive note - I am working on fixing these things by filling in the gaps and contributing to OSS - a good solution for people who feel similarly inadequate I feel.